USA: Three-day Kennedy memorabilia auction kicks off in New York with nearly two thousand items on sale.

A huge collection of John F. Kennedy artefacts went up for auction on Thursday(December 15) in New York City. The collection comprises items ranging in size from lapel pins to boats. The highlights of the morning session were two passports from the 1950's, one belonging to John F. Kennedy while he was still a congressman and the other to Jacqueline Lee Bouvier's, which contains an amendment from August 13th, 1954 indicating her married name of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. The hammer prices were $45,000 and $47,500 respectively. The private collection of Robert L. White, who began collecting Kennedy artefacts in the 1950s, represents most of the nearly 2,000 items that will be put up for sale from December 15 to 17 at Guernsey's auctioneers in New York. White's sons and widow were at the auction and son Zac explained the significance of the Kennedy's in his life, saying, "I've grown up with this stuff my entire life so my, my view of it might be a little different than other people. I would learn about something in school as a child and you know I could raise my hand and say 'oh, my dad has this at home and that at home'. I had teachers not always believe me and Kennedy played a very significant role in my life." The range of material covers JFK's entire live, from childhood to his marriage to Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, his early political aspirations to his successes as a Congressman, Senator and finally as President. White, a cleaning supplies salesman, collected pins, posters and other materials during Kennedy's years as a congressman and senator from Massachusetts and began a correspondence with Kennedy's secretary, Evelyn Lincoln, after Kennedy reached the White House. Lincoln, who worked for Kennedy during most of his political career, became good friends with White and when she died in 1995, she bequeathed her collection of Kennedy material to him. White died in 2003 and his estate is selling off the collection. The Florida buyer who bought both Kennedy passports, Don Carter, is a collector of memorabilia and has a special interest in the Kennedys. "It's not an investment, it will never see the market again, it will just see my children's hands and my great grandchildren's hands, that's all," he explained. Carter said he plans to attend all the auction sessions until Saturday. Pieces up for grabs on Thursday morning generally sold well below the estimated value, except for a few. One item which sold for more than double the $3,000 estimate, at a hammer price of $7,000 was John F. Kennedy's official U.S. Senate identification card. About 300 items will also be auctioned in "real time" on eBay Live auctions for those unable to attend the auction in New York.

ITN Source | December 17, 2005

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